Political Interference

Feb 8, 2016

Top 400 Taxpayers See Tax Rates Rise, But There’s More to the Story

As Americans were gathering party supplies to greet the New Year, the Internal Revenue Service released their annual report of cumulative tax data reported on the 400 tax r...

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Feb 4, 2016

Chlorine Bleach Plants Needlessly Endanger 63 Million Americans

Chlorine bleach plants across the U.S. put millions of Americans in danger of a chlorine gas release, a substance so toxic it has been used as a chemical weapon. Greenpeace’s new repo...

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Jan 25, 2016

U.S. Industrial Facilities Reported Fewer Toxic Releases in 2014

The Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) data for 2014 is now available. The good news: total toxic releases by reporting facilities decreased by nearly six percent from 2013 levels. Howe...

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Jan 22, 2016

Methane Causes Climate Change. Here's How the President Plans to Cut Emissions by 40-45 Percent.

UPDATE (Jan. 22, 2016): Today, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) released its proposed rule to reduce methane emissions...

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Whoops, Agencies Forget to Send Rules to Congress, Potentially Invalidating Them

Jan 5, 2010 by Matthew Madia

Hundreds of regulations may not officially have the force and effect of law because rulemaking agencies have not performed a simple procedural task, according to a Congressional Research Service (CRS) report issued last week.

Under the Congressional Review Act, a 1996 law that essentially gives Congress a window of opportunity to veto agency regulations, agencies must submit to Congress and the Government Accountability Office (GAO) copies of new final regulations.

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OMB Watch Suggests Improvements for Information Policy

Jan 4, 2010 by Matthew Madia

There’s no time like the holidays – when packages are wrapped up tight with paper only to be torn apart – to talk about paperwork. That’s why OMB Watch has submitted to the White House comments on improving implementation of the Paperwork Reduction Act.

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Beginning Steps toward a Regulatory Reform Agenda: Regulatory News in 2009

In 2009, the Obama administration took steps toward rebuilding the federal government's ability to protect public health, workplace safety, and environmental quality. President Obama set out key principles to guide the administration's actions on transparency, regulatory reform, and scientific integrity. He appointed well qualified agency heads who reversed or halted many harmful regulations from the prior administration. In doing so, the president has created expectations for a renewal of government's positive role. The most vexing problems, however – changing a dysfunctional regulatory process and restoring badly needed resources to agencies – remain major hurdles.

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Murkowski to Try CRA to Deny EPA Greenhouse Gas Finding

Dec 15, 2009 by Matthew Madia

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) announced yesterday that she will introduce a resolution disapproving the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s determination that greenhouse gases are a threat to public health and the environment.

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CRS Report on Lobbying Rules

Dec 9, 2009 by Amanda Adams*

Last week, the Congressional Research Service (CRS) released a report asserting that the Obama administration's rules covering federally registered lobbyists have "already changed the relationship between lobbyists and covered executive branch officials." The report titled, "Lobbying and the Executive Branch: Current Practices and Options for Change," did not explain how those relationships have changed.

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New OIRA Staffer Calls Attention to Office’s Role

The White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), the clearinghouse for federal regulations, has brought in a conservative economist, Randall Lutter, to review regulatory proposals from agencies. The move has upset OIRA critics and unnerved those who interpret Lutter's past writings as a sign of his views on public health and environmental regulation. Those working inside government and those who know him argue that the criticisms of Lutter, a civil servant on temporary assignment to OIRA, are unfair.

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Lutter Confirmed at OIRA

Dec 3, 2009 by Matthew Madia

Yesterday, I blogged about rumors that conservative economist Randall Lutter was headed to the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs.

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Rumors of a Regulatory Foe at OIRA

Dec 2, 2009 by Matthew Madia

Update: Lutter Confirmed at OIRA.

As reported by Rena Steinzor at the Center for Progressive Reform blog, rumors are circulating the Randall Lutter may be taking a deputy position at the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, the executive branch gatekeeper for all things regulatory. OIRA Administrator Cass Sunstein has neither denied nor confirmed the rumors, Steinzor says.

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Many Agree Lobbying Policies May Not Actually Reduce Corruption

Dec 1, 2009 by Amanda Adams*

The most recent effort to curb lobbyists' influence, excluding registered lobbyists from federal advisory panels, continues to get press coverage since first announced in September. The Washington Post predicts that it, "may turn out to be the most far-reaching lobbying rule change so far from President Obama, who also has sought to restrict the ability of lobbyists to get jobs in his administration and to negotiate over stimulus contracts."

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OMB Responds to Criticism over Endocrine Program

Nov 19, 2009 by Matthew Madia

White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Peter Orszag said Monday that OMB did not improperly interfere in an EPA program meant to test the hormone-disrupting effects of chemicals. Orszag said that EPA has complete control over the program.

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